After Afghan history, India are off to UKI

India finished the historic Afghanistan inaugural match in two days ( with their captain & main keeper injured). Post that, they have embarked on another tour to UK & Ireland ( where they lost badly 1-3, despite winning the first test). Legendary Tendulkar calls this as the most comprehensive bowling attack in years!Virat Kohli averaged less than 15 last time, making Jimmy Anderson take a jibe much before the tour was even planned ( though Anderson himself has not performed that well outside England)!

All in all, the series starts in Ireland with a T20I, followed by limited overs series ( giving time for the players to settle down!) There are reinforcements available from the A team, who are also in the same country playing well so far (Mayank Agarwal, Prithvi Shaw, Shubnam Gill, Shardul Thakur will fancy their chances in case of an emergency).

With good experience for all players in the team & bright, sunny weather this year, I expect the visitors to win 2-1. The ODI series will be well-fought as the hosts are No.1 in the world and have just white-washed the Aussies! Let us see what happens! Kohli & his men will be keen to show their mettle, after South Africa.

England Home T20s - India win 2-1

Another series for him - not one with youngsters like Kedar but with veterans like Raina, Yuvraj, Dhoni winding the clock back - vintage performance that one can go miles to see. Bumrah, Nehra and Chahal shared the spoils with the ball to complete a 2-1 of the T20 series, reflecting the closeness of the teams.

England Home ODIs - India win run-fest of a series

• 1st ODI - England scored 350 and lost as India overtook them
• 2nd ODI - England scored 350 and lost again as India scored 15 more!
• 3rd ODI - England scored 340+ and just about won as they scored 5 runs more.

Indian (and English bowlers) must have been glad that the series finished, such a run-fest it was.
India though was happy with Jadhav and Pandya's emergence as lower-order batsmen, resurgence of Dhoni and Yuvraj  in their old style just before the ICC  Champions Trophy starts.

Jadeja and Ashwin will not take part in the T20I series though I dont think the series result will change :)

Image Courtesy - espncricinfo website

England Home Tests - Massive 4-0 win for Indians

No big score from Kohli, Pujara and neither a good bowling performance by Ashwin. Still, India won their fourth match of the series after conceding 477 in the first innings! Newbie Karun Nair and Ravindra Jadeja combined to knock the fight out of the Englishmen. The series verdict was unanimous - the English were thoroughly outplayed! Two Indian bowlers were No.1 and 2 in the ICC rankings, as the icing to the Indian cake! Bring on the Aussies!!

Image Courtesy - espncricinfo website

England Home Tests - Three-nil lead for India

A great advertisement for test match cricket! India lost the toss and conceded 400 runs in the first innings. Yet, went on to win by an innings!

A masterful double century by the captain and 12 wicket haul by No.1 bowler in the world, supported by No.9 batting spinner ( scoring a century) triggered a comeback that saw the Indians win the test series with one test to go.

All eyes on 4-0 win though the English are still cribbing ( second nature?)

Image Courtesy - espncricinfo website

England Home Tests - All-round performance by India to go up 2-0

A superb performance by the Indian team saw them take an unbeaten lead in the five-match test series.
England have been affected by the relative loss of form of captain Cook (compared to the previous tours), batting of the lower order not as good as the Indians while the Indians have shown great all-round performance to win this test. Replacement opener/keeper Parthiv Patel was great, giving the team management all reasons to smile!

Two more matches and I dont expect the English to win anything else, especially with new replacements.

Image Courtesy - Cricinfo website

England Home Tests - Massive win for India to go ahead 1-0

India won the 2nd test match versus England by 246 runs!Virat Kohli contributed 248 runs in both innings of the match, but it was a team effort.

1. Chet Pujara scored a century in the first innings to shore up the Indian total
2. Ashwin's eight-wicket haul and impressive batting continued!
3. Jayant Yadav was a revelation with his all-round stints.
4. Shami took crucial wickets in both innings to complete the formalities.

Forget the stats, it was an impressive win by the Indian team. Onto Mohali, where the English will have one change in the batting and I expect India to go with three pacers!

Image Courtesy: Cricinfo website

England Home tests - Interesting high-scoring draw to end first test

The first test saw scores of 500+ being scored and predictably ended in a draw. But, it was interesting too. No one expected the English spinners to collect so many wickets, though the Indians also bowled decently. All in all, it is a four test series remaining now. My prediction is 2-2.Can India go one better and win the series? Wait and watch this space!

Image Courtesy:Cricinfo.com website

Indias 2014 tour to England starts

After a long break, back to blog just before the test series against England starts. 3 years after the disastrous tour where the Indian team lost 0-4, they are off to the venues where Duncan Fletcher's horrible overseas record as Indian coach started. The team composition is different and therefore the hope is that the performances will be different as well. The Indian team has shown substance and fighting spirit during the two overseas tours (NZ and SAF) and the Indian fan must be hoping that there will be more of the same. Only difference hopefully is that the performances will translate to victories.

The Indian team, despite encouraging signs, have not been able to win any test during their overseas sojourns. The team composition was announced in late May and there were few surprises. Let us revisit the same and see how they fare up

• Opening batsmen - M Vijay, Shikhar Dhawan, Gautam Gambhir. I dont see any changes from the last test even though Gambhir is an established batsman in the squad. The first two warm-up matches will give an indication of who will play and who will not. Anyway, the long tour (five tests) will give enough opportunities to all concerned in case of loss of form.
• Middle order - Cheteshwar Pujara, Virat Kohli, Ajinkya Rahane, Rohit Sharma. There is no replacement for the players who will all play in the test match. That is the biggest risk in the squad and how Dhoni will balance the risk in performance downsides will be seen. Will there be a SOS call to anyone else during the tour?
• All-rounders - Ravindra Jadeja, R Ashwin, Stuart Binny. One of the first two named would have been a guarantee before the Bangladesh tour. But, Binny's memorable performance (6-4 in the ODI's) will give MS Dhoni a pleasant headache. Binny as an allrounder who can bowl 10 overs of pace (+ swing and seam) will be ideal in England. Look out for Binny on this tour.
• Pace bowlers - Bhuvneshwar Kumar, Mohammed Shami, Ishwar Pandey, Ishant Sharma, Varun Aaron, Pankaj Singh. This was a surprise when the tour was announced. Zaheer Khan was dropped which makes Ishant the top bowler in this tour. He will retain his place in the eleven just for Dhoni's preference but if he does not pick up his performance, there are others in the wings. Shami and Bhuvi will be the other first-choice pacers while the backup squad is also quite interesting to look out for. One wonders if Umesh Yadav was unfortunate but the players picked can be handful on their day.
• Wicket-keepers - MS Dhoni, Wriddhiman Saha. Saha is most likely a tourist on the squad but will come in contention just in case any middle-order batsman flops continuously. Watch out for the aggressive MS Dhoni (as a batsman)!

There are two warm-up matches in the lead to the test series and these will give an insight into the selection policies that will be adopted by MSD. The matches will also give an indication to the skill and temperament of the players who will vie for the 2-3 positions that are vacant. 

My forecast - India will do well to draw the series but they will give a good fight to the young England side. The latter's experience with conditions will make them the favorites (even though the squad is relatively inexperienced at the highest level). What do you say?

India start as favourites against England

India will start the return series against England as the favourite, waiting to take 'revenge' (despite their statements on the contrary) on the team that inflicted a 4-0 defeat overseas.

The English team have played three warm-up matches on their tour but have showed enough glimpses of weakness against whatever little spin they have encountered. The Indian think-tank have made sure that not much of top-draw spin was visible to the visiting batsmen. How this strategy will help the Indian tweakers remains to be seen?

The Indians have many problems on their side too. The opening batsmen (Sehwag and Gambhir) are not in their best form - Sehwag scored a century in his last first-class innings though. Pujara also did well against the English bowlers in his outing as a special invitee for Mumbai 'A'. Tendulkar scored a hundred for Mumbai while Yuvraj showed his form against the visitors both with the bat and ball. Dhoni is the only person who did not play any cricket in the last few days.

Ashwin also did not benefit much because of the weather that affected Tamil Nadu's first match in Ranji. Zaheer's fitness is another concern that the team management will have while Umesh Yadav's top form in his match would have made the Team Management hopeful. Ishant Sharma will warm the bench mostly while Ojha has done a lot of bowling in his match (not with great success).

Kevin Pietersen is the one player that the Indians will have to look out for. The rest are not ones that will take away the sleep of Dhoni and Fletcher (no ill-will to the others please)!

Overall, the hosts have shrugged off their rustiness in the outings they have got and hence the build-up to the test match seems to be quite even. If the pitches play to form and the Indians capitalize it well, the series will be over from the English perspective quite fast.

India-England Return ODI series - The Indian team is back

After losing against England on their disastrous tour, the Indian cricket team made a return to winning ways in a venue that has not been very kind to home teams. Hyderabad proved lucky for MS Dhoni, first with the toss and then with the bat & ball. The Indian team management must have been very happy with the performances by the young players though there is still a long way to go forward.

Raina and Dhoni along with cameos from Jadeja and Kohli ensured that the Indian total was challenging. The English team finally came to terms with reality - all the cricket writers who were hurriedly praising the team and management will now have to pause. The strength of the English team on sub-continental pitches has been a suspect for quite a while now - even with the recent 'hot' form behind them, the English faltered at every question the Indian players posed.

Spin will become a potent weapon for the Indians in the series, as the first match showed. The younger players in the England team had no clue for all the tricks of the spinners. The slowness of Cook and Trott was very much visible in the chase - something that will be on the mind of Andy Flower. It becomes imperative then that Kevin Pietersen should come to the party. Without his touch, the English will struggle to win on Indian pitches.

The bowlers, similarly, had no impact on the marauding batsmen. Yes, the first 35 overs were restrictive but the Indians changed gears in the last fifteen in such a way that the English were left trying to catch up. The Indian fielding, with young guns, showed major improvement compared to their recent trysts.

Are the Indian problems solved then? Not exactly. The top-order is still searching for form while the seasoned duo (Raina and MSD) keep performing consistently. This series will give the Indians a good opportunity to try out their second-string players in conditions where they will feel at home. If only a couple of players grab their chances and come good, the selectors will be having less sleepless nights.

On current evidence, the Indians look like winning the series at the earliest opportunity - will the English come back in the next match? Very unlikely!

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part III

One must be talking about scheduling of Indian cricket - how the Indians have been tired of playing so many matches. Others might be thinking why such a big deal is made out of such a small issue. To get a low-down on the actual dates, I tried to map the schedule of the Indian team from the time Australia toured in September 2010. The end-date was till the time India finish their tour Down Under. Each column below represents a fortnight in the calendar.

I have entered all the matches for IPL and CLT20 though a player will not play all the matches in the tournament. The schedule for the return tour by Windies is still not clear and that has been represented approximately (3 tests and 5 ODIs). The BCCI has now accepted Anil Kumble's proposal to play a warm-up match in Australia - but when is the slot available?

This schedule will give everyone a clear insight on the amount of cricket the team is subject to. Of course, the BCCI will say that they give the players an option to rest, if required. But, is this policy actually in practice? That is the question to ask the people concerned.

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem - Part II (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Indian cricket - Beginning of the End (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Eng-Ind series - Time for Post-mortem

The series is over. India have been white-washed by the English team convincingly, 4-0 being the verdict. There was no doubt who was the stronger team and the No.1 ranking at the end of the series was apt for the winners.

The jury is out. Ex-players are out with their comments and suggestions on how to improve Indian cricket but one thing is common among all the commentators - they are like the Indian industrialists who do not want to support Anna Hazare in the Anti-Corruption Drive. For fear of being an outcast in the eyes of BCCI and thereby losing their potential income, they do not blame IPL as one of the reasons for the Indian loss.

No longer the No.1

Sanjay Manjrekar in Cricinfo states that India needs a few urgent repairs. Manjrekar talks about pace bowlers first and then spinners.

Stating that India needs to look beyond Zaheer Khan, Sanjay lists the likely bowlers who can lead India's new-ball attack - Praveen Kumar, Ishant Sharma - while being disappointed with two other bowlers - Sreesanth, Munaf Patel. From the period Javagal Srinath retired from the international scene, India has played quite a few number of pacemen.
Let us look at the ones who are still in the hunt:

• Irfan Pathan - played 29 test matches for India. Has a hat-trick to his name but lost his prodigious swing somewhere. Everyone criticized him for losing his pace which never was his strength. Injury further sidelined him, making it difficult for getting a look-in to the pace attack. Definitely should be in the plans for the future of Indian cricket. A fully-fit and in-form Irfan would have been a handful for the English attack with his swing and batting skills. 
• RP Singh - Eric Simons mentioned that he was selected over Munaf Patel because of his ability to swing. Neither swing was on offer nor pace was visible during his spell in the final test match. After having lost pace (more than 10kmph compared to the earlier English series in 2007), RP did not look like making any impact on the batsmen in any way. 
• Balaji and Ashish Nehra played test matches for India last in 2005. Injuries crippled them to cut short their promising careers. Though Nehra made a comeback to ODIs and has performed creditably, he has not been looked (by the selectors) as a possible candidate for tests (even though he was keen on coming back to the test arena). Balaji made a comeback two seasons ago in the IPL bowling at slower pace.
• VRV Singh, Jaidev Unadkat were given chances on the tour to South Africa but they never capitalized on the opportunities. While VRV has fallen away, Wasim Akram has spoken very highly of Unadkat and one might see him make a comeback (provided he can add muscle to his slight frame). Abhimanyu Mithun on the Sri Lankan tour (in the absence of the leading bowlers), however, performed better than expected. But, he has not been seen once again in Indian colors. Will the selectors revert back to him for the Australian tour?

Similarly, in the spin bowling department, Manjrekar feels that Ashwin should be given a chance in the home series against West Indies. Who else have played for India in the same time-frame as above?

• Amit Mishra and Pragyan Ojha are the ones who have been given the maximum number of chances after Kumble and in the absence of Harbhajan Singh. But, as Mishra showed in the recent series, on wickets that do not support spin, these bowlers do not make any impact on the bowlers. Pragyan Ojha should continue his previous assignment that was agreed with Surrey and gain experience on the county circuit. This will keep him in good stead for the future.
• Piyush Chawla and Romesh Powar are the other spinners who have played a couple of test matches for India. Though Chawla made a surprise comeback to the 2011 World Cup and has age on his side, he is not thought to be in the same frame as the other spinners. If he can be a bit faster in the air, Chawla can still help India in the long run. Powar continues to ply his wares in the Ranji tournament with average success.
• Murali Karthik is the other bowler who has performed well whenever given a chance (which is mostly in a crisis situation). But, the selectors seem to consider him as over-the-hill even though he plays with success on the county circuit.

Sanjay finishes the article by suggesting that VVS Laxman does not have much time to play for India. Just a few test matches ago, the entire sub-continent was singing praises for VVS but look at the reactions now. There are obviously no other players who are good enough to take his role, yet. Who are the other middle-order batsmen whom the selectors have given a chance so far?

• Yuvraj Singh and Suresh Raina have been given enough chances to prove themselves. Both have showed that they cannot translate their potential shown in the shorter format to the longer arena. How longer will they continue to get chances their way? Should the selectors not look elsewhere now? Probably yes.
• Cheteshwara Pujara, Virat Kohli and Badrinath have been given a few tests to show their prowess. Virat and Badri have shown that they have technical weaknesses against the short ball (Badrinath would have felt unlucky to have started his test career against the searing pace of Steyn). Pujara did well against Australia at home but in the series against Proteans, did not make a big contribution.  
• Rohit Sharma is the other name suggested by Anil Kumble in his comments after the debacle but these players should earn their spot in the playing eleven rather than being selected purely for youth sake.

In the opening department, Sehwag and Gambhir have been playing well but as this series once again showed, injuries and illnesses need to be planned in a proactive manner. 

• Aakash Chopra and Sanjay Bangar had performed the role of opener very creditably on the tours to Australia and England. Though they still play domestic cricket, they are not on the short-list of selectors any more. Aakash would have been the ideal opener to replace Sehwag on the recent tour, even though it was a short-term option.
• Murali Vijay, Abhinav Mukund hail from the state of Tamil Nadu. They have done well in few of the opportunities given to them so far but it is injustice to them that they have not been given the exposure to challenging pitches overseas on 'A' tours. Will the BCCI make the necessary changes to groom these players?

Ravi Shastri, the IPL veteran, remarked in his column - It's time for Indian cricket to identify players who are specifically suited to the different formats of the game. A way has to be found to encourage those cricketers who want to give Test cricket priority. There ought to be superior remuneration or compensation. How do you suggest this will happen, Ravi? Especially when the BCCI is filling its coffers with IPL as well as CLT20 tournaments, how can young cricketers get encouraged by the longer version? Is BCCI planning to start a new tournament on similar lines? Or are they going to increase the prices of central contract? What is your detailed proposal to achieve this, Mr. Shastri?

Pataudi, who gave away the trophy (named after his father) to England at Oval, predicted the next action that one can expect from the BCCI very correctly - The BCCI is not going to show a great deal of vision. Cricket will continue [in India] the way it is, but I sincerely hope that some sense does come in.

Related articles

• Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Eng-Ind series - When India had a chance

Though England have won the series against India convincingly, there were incidents when everyone involved felt that the Indian team had a fair chance of matching the English, at least in the first two test matches


First test at Lords

Zaheer Khan walks out of the attack after bowling a little more than 13 overs, reducing the Indian attack to a three-bowler (including an off-color Harbhajan). From a total of 62-2, England launch a score of 474-8 before declaring their innings. MS Dhoni is forced to exchange his gloves for the ball and comes close to taking Pietersen's wicket (denied by the DRS)

Dravid and VVS Laxman are going good at 182-3 when VVS gifts his wicket away. The Indians fold up for 286, barely avoiding the follow-on. 

Ishant Sharma puts his best in an inspired piece of bowling to reduce England to 62-5. He does not return after lunch, giving Morgan and Prior enough time to break away and eventually Broad decides to cut loose against the tired bowling (162 runs in 28 overs). England set India a target of 458. 

Gambhir gets hit on the elbow in the 2nd innings, ruling him out of the opening slot in the crucial final innings of the test next as well as the test match. 

Suresh Raina and MS Dhoni take tea on the final day at 218-5 in 81 overs. With one more session to follow, all hopes are on these two to take India to safety. Dhoni had been there and done the rescue act during the Lords test on the previous tour. This time, he edges behind to start the procession of the Indians to end at 261 in the 97th over.

2nd Test at Nottingham. India were supposed to be the comeback Kings.  

• They did start on the right note by reducing England 124-8. Broad and Swann came together to take the total to 221 (adding 97 runs in a little more than 18 overs).
• Rahul Dravid (again) and Yuvraj Singh were going great guns at 267-4 when Yuvraj poked to one outside off against Broad. Result was that India folded out to 288 (just 67 runs lead!)
• Harbhajan Singh picked up an injury, once again reducing the Indian attack to a three-member show. Yuvraj and Raina bowled the additional overs to spare MSD the plight of bowling.
• England were 24-1 by end of 2nd days play and quickly went to 57-2 before the Ian Bell show started. KP, Morgan, Prior and then Bresnan and Broad dismantled the Indian bowling to such an extent that the team was demoralized. The team must have lost their confidence during this innings - so much that their intensity got lower and lower after this mark. There was no way the Indians were going to extend the match to the final day. The humiliation was complete when the team was reduced to 55-6. After taking a 67-run lead, the match was lost by a whopping 319 runs - unbelievable.

After these two test matches, India were always playing catch-up. If only some of these chances were taken, the outcome of the series would have been different. Do you agree?

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Eng-Ind - MSD needs a break (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• Did the Indians have any luck at all against England (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

11 ways to encourage the Indians

No point in writing any more posts about the on-going test series between India and England. Hence, decided to see how the Indian players can encourage themselves to come back in the last test at Oval - eleven different means

• Sehwag should not play conventional shots any more - he should take advice of Ranbir Kapoor and play 'Upar Cut' whenever possible
• Gambhir has to decide that he has to 'Make it Large' in every innings he gets a chance
• Dravid has to go back in time when he was the face of Gillette just like other ex-champions (Roger Federer, Tiger Woods) and make (another) comeback
• Tendulkar should have more Boost after spending all the hours on the field to get back his energy
• VVS Laxman should apply Vaseline on his face and ensure that Michael Vaughan gets to see it clearly. 
• Suresh Raina should drink Pepsi Ghatak-Ghatak before going to the ground and play as though he is playing IPL for Chennai Super Kings.
• MS Dhoni should intimidate the English 'bowler rascals' and ask the bowlers to 'mind it'
• Amit Mishra, RP Singh, Ishant Sharma, Sreesanth do not need any other encouragement than the time they need in the pavilion after spending three days on the field (for the fourth test in a row)! 

Will this be good enough? Let us hope so.

Did the Indians have any luck at all against England

In the ongoing test series between India and England, the rub of the green often went against the Indians - few instances noted below:

• Zaheer Khan was ruled out of the first test at Lords due to injury - this reduced to the Indian bowling attack to three bowlers (one of them being an out-of-form 400+ wicket-taking spinner) and occasional captain-bowler. This was felt sorely when the English team (second innings) was at 62-5 and 107-6. The main bowlers were tired and without any backup bowler, the captain was direction-less.
• Praveen Kumar pinged Kevin Pietersen's on his foot, looking very plumb only for the umpire to reject the appeal. A DRS review would have resulted in KP being ruled out, depriving him of the double century he eventually went on to score.
• Gautam Gambhir, at forward short-leg, was hit by a strong pull-shot that made the Indians lose their other half of a great opening partnership which was till then crucial for the No.1 position in test cricket.
• Stuart Broad's hat-trick had Harbhajan Singh edging the ball on to his pad which was not noticed by the umpire. Without DRS in this series, the Indians had no chance to review the decision. Thus the hat-trick hastened the closure of Indian innings and gave them a small lead over the English.
• Harbhajan Singh, during the second innings of second test, pulled up a muscle which rendered the Indian attack again to three bowlers. 
• Rahul Dravid was beaten by unbeatable deliveries in the test series - only such balls could break the Wall in this series. 
• The weather was overcast for most of the Indian innings so far while the English had only one such instance (1st innings of second test) when they were bowled out by the Indians.

Gary Player once said

The more I practice, the luckier I get.

This quote more than sums up the performance for all the points mentioned above. Ishant Sharma's dismissal in the first innings of 3rd test was an example of how everything went right for England in this series.

One can give similar instances where the Indians contributed to their downfall with reckless shot-making, dropped catches as well as superb bowling by the English pacemen. No wonder, no one is talking about luck playing its part in the English ascent to No.1

Related articles

• Eng-Ind - England go up 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

Vaseline and Batsman Recalls

Two off-field incidents made news in the second test between India and England - one obviously was the decision by MS Dhoni to recall Ian Bell after he was run out by the Indian team in the second innings. This led to a huge discussion all around the world whether it was right or not. The Indian ex-players also joined the noise-bytes made over the decision - Anil Kumble and GR Viswanath being two ex-captains from the state of Karnataka who praised Dhoni's decision. Nobody spoke about Viswanath's decision to recall Bob Taylor in the Golden Jubilee test between India and England - a pity that such a decision was not given the right advertisement.

The other incident was about the tweet given by ex-English captain Michael Vaughan. Vaughan suggested that VVS Laxman might have used Vaseline to cheat the HotSpot machine. Obviously, this led to players like Ravi Shastri and Sunil Gavaskar to voice strong opinions on Vaughan - in fact, Sunny Bhai even went to the extent of asking VVS to consult his lawyers!! Vaseline too had an earlier connection between India and England test matches - ask John Lever about it. Tony Greig gives a good spin over the incident but this only goes to prove that the English media has very short memory about incidents that do not show their team in a poor situation.

One common thread between these two incidents and the second test match was that England won the matches concerned!

Related articles

• 'Stupid' and 'naive' Bell benefits from India's spirit of the game (guardian.co.uk)
• Vaseline cannot affect Hot Spot - BBG Sports (espncricinfo.com)

England-India test series preview

• 2000th match in history of test cricket
• 100th test match between India and England
• 1st test in a new series between the No.1 and No.3 in ICC Rankings
• Sachin Tendulkar on 99 in the number of centuries (tests + ODIs)
• Sachin with a sub-40 highest score at Lords

It does not get any bigger than this as a build-up to the test series that starts this Thursday. The return of Sachin, Gambhir, Zaheer Khan, Sreesanth to the test squad will add strength to the Indian team. The English team is looking at the pinnacle of the ICC rankings by toppling the Indian team. 

The Indian team did not get good practice on English soil in the single warm-up match last week. The last time they toured, they played the ODI tri-series and two warm-up matches (one of them had Strauss in the line-up) before the first test. Obviously, the result of the series was 1-0 in favor of the Indians. This time, it is just one match against Somerset to adapt to the conditions. The English pitches typically suit the batsmen on a normal sunny day but change their stripes rapidly after a passing shower. This is where the Indian team has to be careful about. The English bowlers could not dislodge the Sri Lankan batsmen mostly during the three test series except for a bizarre session when the Lankans collapsed.

Players to look for will be Alistair Cook and Ian Bell from the English batting line-up. Andy Strauss and Kevin Pietersen will be under pressure thanks to their recent failures. Similarly, Rahul Dravid and Suresh Raina will be on the spotlight after their successes in the Caribbean islands. 

On the bowling front, Sreesanth and Ishant Sharma can support Zaheer Khan in driving the advantage towards India. Harbhajan's lack of form will be worrying but after his 400-wicket landmark, he will be itching to go flat out. How much Greame Swann can trouble the batsmen will be key to the English bowling attack when the ball does not do much. The tall bowlers will be looking for the pitch to help their height and swing but will the pitches help?

Shane Warne thinks England will win 1-0 but I feel that there is a high chance of a drawn series. 

Related articles

• India tour starts in England later this week (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)
• WI-India 1st test - India win the series 1-0 (myhistoryisinteresting.blogspot.com)

World Cup 2011 - Sri Lanka favorites vs England

    Key Player 
179-153 says Castrol Index, reflecting the difference between England and Sri Lanka. Quite a big difference, one can say, that has been justified by the inconsistent performances by the English team during this tournament. The Quarter-final match is being held in the backyard of the Sri Lankans, which will boost their confidence further.

Murali has been declared fit by his team - knowing him, he would have played if he was even 50% fit. Further, if he was not in the team also, the other spinners would be a handful  for the English team. It is a fact that England have played well against the test-playing nations, faltering against the minnows - the inconsistency of the batting lineup must be haunting both the Andys.

Strauss must stay as the anchor of the lineup so that the others can bat around him. Swann and Tredwell proved their prowess last match - will they do it again this match? The Sri Lankans are much better batsmen of spin and can negate the threat easily. Anderson will make a comeback but again, he is not much of a threat on these pitches.

Muralidharan, Mendis and Herath will play in all likelihood with Dilshan providing the part-time option. Malinga and Matthews can open the bowling with the new ball. Sangakkara and Jayawardene will be the key batsmen for the Lankans who will be expected to provide the strength. It has been a while that Dilshan has put up a big score - if he and Tharanga can put up a solid base, the others can take on from there. The middler order is suspect and might come apart just like the Proteas did against the Black Caps in their quarter-final.

The Emerald Isle team have the ability to put it across the English team easily, if they play as per their reputation. Will the English finally regain their Ashes-winning form?

World Cup 2011 - Kirsten needs a change of plan

As one read the article about Gary Kirsten in IE, it gives a lot of insight into the coach and his skills on the ground. This text stands out for me.

“You can ‘go with the flow’ if that is your preferred option, and I’m happy with that. But if the ‘flow’ is going against you, then it does no harm to rethink your approach. I’m happy for players to rethink their careers by themselves, if they prefer to, but I’m here to assist if they require me. And also Paddy (Upton, mental conditioning coach) is there all the time, too.”

It is such a neat way to deal with players, especially so with the stars that man the Indian team.

But, I think, it is time that Paddy and Kirsten now take a session to find out what is going wrong with the Indian team - a team cannot slump in their batting so miserably twice (England and South Africa). The players did not seem to be having any plan in their mind, where to hit the ball or whether to give the strike to the non-striker. The lower order (last four bowlers) with the bat, if one looks at the statistics here, average 1 run per wicket - a grand total of nine runs in eight innings!!! This is ridiculous numbers, even if you are playing for the associates.

The other article in IE about Dhoni's twelve is so true. Surely, MSD must be thinking how to have Raina and Kohli both in his team during fielding. But, here is where I find it interesting. In both matches that India have not won, Kohli has not been able to get going. This role is better when played by Raina than Kohli. In the form that you see the top three in, there are going to be lesser opportunities where Virat has to shore up the batting. Why not play Raina in his place? He is the best player to play the PowerPlay overs. Dhoni prefers his CSK team-mate to Yusuf (with the ball) during slog overs.

What do you think about this? Should Dhoni's team-mates from SuperKings (Raina and Ashwin) come in to the next playing eleven? Let me know.